Wow I sure do feel a lot better today! I'm tired now, but I'm looking forward to the four-day break, so I'm happy. It's important for one to take a break once in awhile, or he will get fully worn out from things. I speak from experience.

I stopped by Mr. Math Teacher's room today to pick up the notebook which I had left behind yesterday, and I talked to him about the test a bit. I mentioned how nervous I get on tests etc., and explained how my pictographic memory had jinxed me all last night, because when I woke up this morning I had solved the four problems I hadn't finished in my sleep. It was funny and disturbing to me, both at the same time.

I cut 25 seconds off my usual mile time today. I felt accomplished, but at the same time I should have gotten a higher (higher being less time) score on the mile, because people were constantly being lame and darting out into my way, or running at an annoyingly slow pace next to the curb, or even worse is when they run in a long line walking so that you have to run around them in their entirety. That sort of thing is frustrating for someone like myself who actually chose to take physical education for the sake of staying in shape, and I'm actually utilizing the time I have in the weight room as much as possible.

Today has been great - I entered a few tournament games on Starcraft known as "Ladders. I lost one, and won two, putting me in the top 1500 players on Battle.net of several million players online. The only reason I'm not ranked higher is because 1,000 of the top players are using hacks or cheats, also known as "ladder abuse" or abusing of the tournament system. I'll probably beat them either way though, hackers and cheaters are difficult, but I can still beat them. For example, tonight I entered a "free for all" game, but the two players knew each other and after the two-minute mark, where players may no longer leave the game without forfeiting their ladder points, started to attack me together, one by one, then together again. I held them both off and eventually won the game. Of course they were sore losers, however I managed to grab the win despite one of them disconnecting intentionally, I still got a good portion of points, and lowered their ratings and raised my own.

I thought about the ladder game in comparison to Algebra II in my mind a lot I see that I struggled in both, but eventually I pulled through and succeeded (at least that's what I'm hoping for). I'm working on conquering test anxiety (thanks to my Mom and Mr. Bellinger), and I plan on doing much better on the next "Assessment of Knowledge" as Mr. Deis kindly phrased it for me. He told me that he wouldn't say, "test" anymore because I fear them. He's a nice guy.

Take care my friends.